Gregory Freeman: Being Heavy, But Still Cute As A Button, P-D 10/14/1994

Headline: BEING HEAVY, BUT STILL CUTE AS A BUTTON
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Fri., Oct. 14, 1994
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 13D, Edition: FIVE STAR

A FEW WEEKS ago, fellow columnist Bill McClellan wrote about reactions to a promotional ad that the Post-Dispatch had begun running of him.
In that ad, Bill, a sensitive guy, mentioned how he did the laundry at his house. After that, he won praise for being a cool, '90s kind of guy.

As with Bill, a young woman from our promotions department asked me to come up with things about me that readers didn't necessarily know.
I briefly played with the idea of faking it, saying something like I cook the meals at our house. But I knew two things: my wife, who actually does the cooking, wouldn't buy it, and if I did do the cooking, I'd probably be the only one eating it. Well, our dog, Sloan, might be willing to give it a try. I don't have a good reputation at our house when it comes to cooking.
I thought for a bit. Hobbies. That might be it. But then I figured that watching Nick at Night and CNN in the evening didn't amount to hobbies.

Then I thought of my button collection.
I've been collecting political buttons since I was 15, when I was a teen-age volunteer for George McGovern's campaign for president.

I brought my collection to the paper the day the ad was to be shot. Actually, the photo was reshot. I tried to hide my girth in the first photo, wearing a dark coat and pants. That one turned out to be too dark. I was told to wear something bright, something casual.
So I wore a favorite sweater and a pair of gray pants. It was shot again, and turned up in Monday's paper.
I didn't like it. It made me look fat. Of course, I am fat, but in my mind I only weigh about 160 pounds, so it was a bit disconcerting to see me there, in all my "big-boned" glory.

Leading the ad was the fact that I collect political buttons.
   First came phone calls. It seems St. Louis has more than a few button collectors. There's a club here, and a national convention of button collectors is meeting in St. Louis next year.
   Bob Levine, the area's premier collector and button maker - he makes them for candidates all the time - called to tell me that one of the buttons in my collection was worth 40 bucks.
   Other collectors called me, apparently pleased that they weren't alone in their pursuit.

The mail was more surprising.
Letters from people who collect buttons for the fun of it. People who've worked for campaigns and have lots of buttons around the house. People who collect buttons - of any type - just for the heck of it.

And they sent me buttons. Lots of buttons.
   I got a box of buttons from KMOX's "Morning Meeting." I wasn't sure if Charles Brennan or Kevin Horrigan sent them, but I appreciated them. I assumed they were a collection of buttons the station's received over time.
   Among them was one with a spinner, a la "Wheel of Fortune." Inside the button are the words: "Anybody but Clinton, " and features the Russian hammer and sickle. Around the button - to be selected by the spinner - are the following choices: Limbaugh, Carter, Kemp, Kennedy, Dole, Perot, and my two favorites, Nixon and Elvis.
   I got an envelope full of buttons from Tom Reichardt, who said he kept them around the house for years after collecting them in the 1960s and early 1970s. "They are only collecting dust and I am fearful that my kids will continue to use them for bottle cap ball." I promise that I won't do the same thing.

In they came. Johnson-Humphrey buttons. Humphrey-Muskie buttons. A huge Barry Goldwater button and a Goldwater brochure that makes you think: The headline is "Vietnam - War Without Victory."
More buttons. Ross Perot. Orrin Hatch. Flush Rush. Nixon-Agnew. Clinton-Gore '96.
Bob Levine sent a favorite. It's a big red one that says "Vote for the Kennedy nearest you! 1994." Around the button are the words, "Ted - Mass., Kathleen - Md., Patrick - R.I., Joe - Mass., Mark - Md."
For a collector like me, the buttons made my day.

I was just starting to feel better about my pudgy picture when the young woman from promotions gave me the editor's opinion of the ad.
   "He liked it, " she said. "He thought it was cute."
   Cute? Not one of the adjectives I use to describe myself.
   I'll have to give that one a bit more thought.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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